Feds investigate former NC State receiver

Former N.C. State football player Eric Leak is under investigation by the federal government on suspicion of Medicaid fraud.

According to a 15-page affidavit for a seizure warrant, prepared by IRS agents and filed in a United States District Court in Durham, Leak illegally obtained Medicaid funds through his mental health company, $8.7 million in a two-year span from 2012 to 2014, and then siphoned more than $200,000 to his sports management company.

Four vehicles, connected to Leak and his wife, Emily, and the use of the fraudulent Medicaid funds, were included in the seizure warrant, according to the district court documents.

One car, a 2013 Porsche Panamera worth more than $137,000, was purchased for former N.C. State basketball player C.J. Leslie, according to the court document.

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Leak, 37, a receiver on the Wolfpack football team from 1997 to 2000, had gotten Leslie in trouble with the NCAA in 2011 for providing Leslie with $410 of impermissible benefits before Leslie’s sophomore season at N.C. State.

N.C. State tried to keep Leak away from its athletes after the incident with Leslie, and former basketball star Tracy Smith, but Leak also had a relationship with football star David Amerson, which prompted the university to bar Leak from campus in October 2013.

Leslie and Amerson left N.C. State in 2013 and Leak since has said both were clients of his Hot Shot Sports Management company. In an 2013 interview, Leak said that he’s not a sports agent, more of a “life coach,” someone who helps clients with day-to-day details, like paying rent and buying clothes.

According to the court document, on April 3, 2013, Leslie – identified by his initials – put a $10,000 deposit for the Porsche at a dealership in Hollywood, Fla. On April 15, Leak’s company Nature’s Reflections wired more than $127,000 to pay the balance.

Leak’s mental health company, which originally operated under the name E Squared Community Services, works in connection with the state department of mental health and provides psychological services.

According to the warrant, Leak obtained the funds from Medicaid through various criminal acts. Leak “directed employes to write service notes for services not rendered,” according to the warrant.

One former employee is quoted in the document as being told by Leak: “It doesn’t matter if you actually see them – you’re not actually helping people.”

Leak has not been arrested or charged with the criminal activity but the federal investigation goes back to April 2013.

Leak, who lives in Raleigh, could not be reached for comment. Neither could Leslie, who left N.C. State after his junior season in 2013 and went undrafted by the NBA but received a contract to play in the developmental league for the New York Knicks.